LEIGH VALLEY LIGHT RAILWAY OPEN WEEKEND

5-6 JULY 2008

"No Stanley, but we've swung by a narrow gauge railway before. Remember opening the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch after World War II on 21 March 1947? Perhaps the signalman will open the gate now and get us out of this mess!"

"Yes Frank?"

"There's a 16mm scale figure near that bench keeps getting blown on to the track."

"Permission to speak Sergeant Wilson!"

"Yes Corporal Jones?"

"I think that Private Pike has just found someone who is clashing with railway byelaws"

"Well if he will wear a black bowler hat with a yellow scarf and brown coat he's bound to be clashing with something..."

"Well, when we was in the Sudan we used to keep them upright with a bit of solder under the feet, but they do not like it up them, they do not like it..."

"Ay stop your bletherin Jonesy, the man's doomed I tell thee, doomed!"

"Never mind the civilians you stupid boy, we of the Walmington On Sea Home Guard are here to meet Air Raid Warden Hodges to commandeer this new water tower if the Nazis bomb the novelty rock emporium. Now where is he?"

"His Reverence will be pleased - and when can you bring round those bananas that Joe Walker sold you?"

"Ssh! Keep your voice down or whoever is writing these captions won't mention my part in "Fred The Steam Fugitive" or the fact that most of the location footage in Dad's Army was shot in Thetford, home of Burrell traction engines!"

Because of the wild terrain, the 70 miles of Caledonian Railway track between Crianlarich Junction - on the Glasgow-Fort William line - and the West Coast port of Oban took some 15 years to build. The spectacular result is a journey that is always picturesque and sometimes even sublime. Who will not thrill at the approach of the terrible Brander Pass, where the fast-flowing River Awe rushes beside the train on its way to Loch Etive and the sea?

Despite the stern landscape however, the imposing red sandstone of the station at Dalmally - the second stop west of Crianlarich - suggested the high hopes entertained for its future as a junction for a branch south to Inverary on the banks of Loch Fyne.

A room was even permanently set aside for the use of the Duke of Argyll and hoped-for distinguished guests. Unfortunately, the laird was not impressed and he easily persuaded fellow peers in the House of Lords to reject proposals for any line which would have spoilt the view from Inveraray Castle. 

Twentieth Century competition from coach and motor car brought a gradual decline to the Oban line although Loch Awre Pier boasts a little steamer again and a station tea-room in season. Dalmally Station buildings are being restored privately and the Argyll Railway Trust plans to re-open the sidings for trains again.

By the 1890s Lynton and its seaside sister town of Lynmouth were burgeoning holiday resorts. However, as their only contacts with the outside world were either by ship or stagecoach, many plans were made for an easier rail connection. These included a coastal route from Ilfracombe to Lynton and another striking north towards the sea from Filleigh on the Taunton-Barnstaple route of the Great Western Railway.

Neither the Great Western nor the London & South Western Railway were prepared to finance any such scheme as they did not believe that the potential traffic justified them. In the end they were proved right, but on 17 September 1895 the first sod for the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway was cut.

Promoted by a group of Lynton businessmen led by publishing magnate Sir George Newnes, the L&BR was to link its two terminii via Chelfham, Bratton Fleming, Blackmoor Gate, Parracombe, Woody Bay and Caffyns Halt. Following the success of the Festiniog and Talyllyn Railways in North Wales, a gauge of one foot eleven and a half inches had been chosen for the demanding route over Exmoor. This was to minimise environmental damage to the highly scenic area and to allow the line to curve tightly around contours - thereby saving money on bridges, tunnels and viaducts. However, what the builders saved on civil engineering the operators were to lose in train speeds along the sharply graded twisting track. Hostile landowners made this problem worse by forcing the L&BR away from its logical route. Indeed, Lynton and Lynmouth station had to be built on a hillside 250 feet above the town it served because it was not allowed any nearer.

Quaint and idiosyncratic yet slow and inconvenient, the L & BR was not a great improvement over stagecoaches and was soon menaced by the internal combustion engine. Despite the public relations flair of its General Manager Charles E. Drewett - and Sir George Newnes' pioneering use of feeder motor bus services - income was miniscule by 1923 when the Southern Railway took over.

Despite this, a new locomotive - named "Lew" - was introduced in 1925. A 2-6-2T built by Manning Wardle of Leeds, it was virtually identical to the three original L & BR locomotives "Yeo", "Exe" and "Taw". "Lyn" was the odd engine out, being a 2-4-2T rapidly purchased from Baldwins of Philadelphia, USA, in 1898, the opening year of the line.

Although the Southern Railway invested heavily in its narrow gauge acquisition losses continued for the next decade. Closure was proposed in 1935 but a protest meeting was called in Barnstaple to oppose this. All the delegates from Lynton arrived by car.

Following this practical demonstration of road supremacy, the last train ran on Sunday 29 September 1935 and on 15 November the locomotives, rolling stock, rails and equipment were sold by auction.

After service as sheds and summer houses two L & BR carriages were preserved on the Festiniog Railway and by the National Railway Museum. Most of the other assets -including four of the locomotives - were scrapped. However "Lew" was exported to Brazil in 1936 and is still being sought out in South America.

The 2' 6" gauge W&LLR was one of the few narrow gauge branch lines to be built under the provisions of the 1896 Light Railways Act. It was opened on 4 April 1903 to aid economic development in a remote area of mid Wales and never made a profit.

Originally operated by the Cambrian Railways the line featured a great number of curves in order to reach the summit of 600ft above sea level. The original terminus at Welshpool was located alongside the main line station and trains wound their way through the town, using the locomotive bell as a warning.

In the 1923 Grouping of railway companies, the Cambrian Railways were absorbed by the Great Western Railway and on 9 February 1931 the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway became a freight only line after its passenger services were replaced by a bus. The W & LLR temporarily re-opened to passengers between 6 and 11 August 1945 for an Eisteddfod but after Nationalisation in 1948 British Railways closed the line and stored the locomotives in 1956.

On 6 April 1963 however the first section of line east from Llanfair re-opened as a tourist line although as traditional street running through Welshpool was to prove impractical a new terminus at Raven Square opened on 18 July 1981. The unusual gauge also meant that new locomotives and rolling stock had to be sourced from around the World, including carriages from the Zillertalbahn in Austria.